Vugù-vugù, the sorcerers' killing magic

vugù-vugù

Source term: bullroarer-magic

vugù-vugù: the Nupe name for the bullroarer; Nupe also call it a ndăkó, literally 'grandfather' or 'ancestor', their word for spirits and the magical objects linked with them.

In the north of Nupe country lived, it was said, a society of men sorcerers whose witchcraft was as organized, as evil and as certainly deadly as the women's. Nupe witches were believed to kill by slipping the soul out of the body and going about unseen. These men had no need to. Their power lay in a bullroarer magic called vugù-vugù, which let them kill from a distance. The Nupe call the bullroarer a ndăkó, the word for grandfather or ancestor that they give to spirits and to the objects bound to them.

a specific bullroarer-magic, called in Nupe vugù-vugù, which is said to give the sorcerers power to kill from a distance

S. F. Nadel, 'Witchcraft and Anti-Witchcraft in Nupe Society,' Africa 8 (1935), p. 427 n. 1

Particulars

Object

A bullroarer, called vugù-vugù in Nupe; form and material unrecorded.